For a moment, the world was just the two of them- her hand in his, the soft afternoon light making everything feel almost normal. Almost safe. Levi's thumb traced an absent pattern on Ariana's knuckles, his mind racing.
He'd built weapons, forged steel, survived a night in a tree with a monster beneath him - but this? This terrified him more than anything the town had thrown at him. Because now he had something to lose. Then Miguel cleared his throat from the doorway, and reality crashed back in.
Levi's hand jerked away from Ariana's like he'd been caught stealing. Heat crawled up his neck as both her parents stood in the doorway, Elena carrying white plastic containers that still had a restaurant's faded logo on them.
"I should-" Levi started, already pushing himself up from the sofa, wincing as his ribs protested the movement.
"Sit," Miguel said firmly, not unkindly. The single word carried the weight of a command that brooked no argument. "You haven't eaten properly in days."
Levi hesitated, caught between politeness and the overwhelming urge to run. His eyes darted to Ariana, who had tucked her hair behind her ear again- that gesture that made his chest do strange things, and was determinedly not looking at either of them.
"Please," Elena added, her voice softer than her husband's but no less insistent. She set the containers on the coffee table, the smell of warm food filling the room. "After everything today, the least we can do is feed you."
Something twisted in Levi's gut. Not pain, not quite discomfort—jealousy, maybe? No, that wasn't right either. It was deeper, older. A hollow ache that reminded him of Friday nights at Dean's place, when the whole crew would pile in after a long week.
May would order too much Chinese food, Nate would steal everyone's spring rolls if he wasn't tied up and locked first, and they'd argue just for argument's sake or watch a movie. He missed that. The easy warmth of people who cared. The kind of family you chose instead of the one that chose to leave you behind.
"Okay," he heard himself say, settling back onto the sofa. "Thank you."
Elena's smile was brief but genuine as she opened the containers, revealing what looked like some kind of stew and bread. Miguel pulled over his wife, and both sat on the couch, with Elena being in the middle this time.
"So," Miguel began, passing Levi a container and a plastic fork. "You left Boyd in the forest."
It wasn't a question. Ariana's head snapped up, her eyes widening slightly. She'd been lost in her own thoughts, but now her focus fixed on Levi with sudden intensity.
Levi set the container on his lap, appetite forgotten. "Yeah."
"Why?" Miguel's tone remained neutral, but his posture had shifted—straighter, more alert. Protective father mode fully engaged.
Levi's jaw worked as he tried to find words that wouldn't sound insane. His eyes flickered to Ariana, then away. "Something called me back."
Elena paused mid-bite. "Called you?"
"Not like a voice," Levi said carefully, one hand rubbing the back of his neck. "More like... a pull. Like when you know someone's staring at you from across a room, but stronger. Urgent." He looked directly at Ariana now, his voice quieter. "I didn't know why until I got here. Until I saw them too."
He trailed off, then forced himself to continue. "When I was in the forest with Boyd, that feeling started. Like someone had tied a rope around my ribs and was pulling me back. I tried to ignore it, told myself it was paranoia or leftover fear from the tree." His laugh was hollow. "But it got stronger. And I knew, I don't know how, but I knew, something was wrong here."
"With me," Ariana whispered, wrapping her arms around herself.
"With you," Levi confirmed gently. "I couldn't explain it to Boyd. How do you tell someone you're abandoning them in a death forest because your gut says someone you barely know is in danger?"
Miguel's expression had softened slightly, though wariness still lingered in his eyes. "And when you got here-"
"Yeah…" Levi nodded.
The silence that followed was heavy with implications. Elena reached over and squeezed Ariana's hand, but her eyes remained on Levi, studying him like he was a puzzle she needed to solve.
"This connection you have," Elena said slowly. "With the children, with whatever's happening to Ariana, do you understand what it means?"
"No," Levi admitted. "But I'm going to find out."
The words hung in the air, a promise and a threat wrapped together. Before anyone could respond, the front door burst open with enough force to rattle the hinges.
Ellis Stevens stormed in, his face flushed with anger and something that looked dangerously close to fear. His eyes locked onto Levi with laser focus. "You," Ellis snarled, crossing the room in three long strides. "You left him out there. My father is still in that forest because of you!"
Levi stood slowly, hands raised in a placating gesture despite the way his ribs screamed in protest. "Elli-"
"Don't," Ellis cut him off, getting in Levi's face. He had several inches on him, and he used every bit of it. "What kind of coward abandons his partner? You scared? Too weak to handle a little scouting mission?" His lip curled. "Guess that's what happens when you let a kid play at being a man."
The short joke. Of course.
Levi's jaw tightened, but he kept his voice level. "Your father's fine. He wanted to keep searchi-"
"So you just left him?" Ellis's voice cracked slightly. "Anything could be out there! Those things, or worse, and you ju-"
The slap echoed through the room like a gunshot.
Ellis stumbled backward, more from shock than force, his hand flying to his reddening cheek. Everyone froze. Elena gasped. Miguel half-rose from his chair.
And Ariana…
Ariana stood between them, her chest heaving, her right hand already starting to swell. Her eyes blazed with a fury that seemed to burn away everything fragile about her.
"Get out," she said, her voice low and shaking with rage. "Or sit down and shut your mouth. But if you insult him again, I'll do worse than slap you."
Ellis blinked, stunned. "I- you-"
"My house," Ariana continued, taking a step forward. Ellis instinctively stepped back. "My rules. You want to be angry? Fine. Be angry at this place, at those things outside, at whatever brought us here. But don't you dare come into my home and attack someone who's done nothing but try to help."
"Ariana," Miguel started, but she held up a hand- the one she'd just used to slap Ellis- and he fell silent.
The room fell into stunned silence. Ellis looked between Ariana and Levi, something complicated warring on his face—shame, anger, confusion. Finally, he swallowed hard.
"I'm sorry," he muttered, not quite meeting anyone's eyes. "I'm just-"
"Nothing's going to happen to him," Levi said quietly. "Boyd's smart. Careful. He'll be back before dark."
Ellis nodded jerkily, then turned and left without another word, the door closing much more softly than it had opened.
The moment he was gone, Ariana's legs seemed to give out. She stumbled. Her dad and Levi caught and gently settled her back on the couch.
The moment he was gone, Ariana's legs seemed to give out. She stumbled. Her dad and Levi caught and gently settled her back on the couch.
"Hey," Levi murmured, crouching beside her. "You're okay. Just breathe."
Ariana nodded, but her hand was already swelling, the knuckles angry and red. She cradled it against her chest, wincing. "I'm fine."
"You're not fine," Elena said, already moving toward the kitchen. "That was stupid, mija. Brave, but stupid."
"He deserved it," Ariana muttered, though her voice lacked conviction. The adrenaline was fading, leaving behind the shakes and the dull throb of pain.
Miguel knelt beside her, gently taking her injured hand to examine it. "Nothing broken," he said after a moment. "But you'll have bruises."
"Good," Ariana said. Then, quieter, "He shouldn't have said those things."
Levi's chest tightened. He should say something, thank her, tell her she didn't need to defend him. But the words stuck in his throat. Instead, he just stood there, useless, watching Elena return with ice wrapped in a dish towel.
"Here," Elena pressed it to Ariana's hand. "Keep it elevated."
The afternoon stretched on. They finished eating in relative silence, the earlier tension replaced by exhaustion. Levi tried to leave twice more, and twice her parents took turns telling him to stay. By the time the sun started its descent toward the horizon, painting the sky in shades of orange and red, the familiar dread had settled over the house like a fog.
"It's time," Miguel said quietly, glancing out the window.
Levi went to retrieve his mace and hiking backpack from upstairs.
The weight of the pack was familiar, comforting even, his supplies, his weapons, the things that had given him the feeling of safety. He slung it over his shoulder, wincing as the straps pulled against his still-healing ribs, and gripped the mace in his other hand.
Elena gathered their own supplies while Miguel helped Ariana to her feet. When Levi caught her eye, she offered a weak smile that didn't reach her eyes.
They made their way to the church as the streetlights began to flicker on. Others were already gathering, moving with the practiced efficiency of people who'd done this too many times.
Faces Levi recognized only in passing- the man who sat on the gas station steps during the day, the woman who tended the greenhouse with Donna, a handful of others whose names he'd never learned and who were simply waiting to die.
Father Khatri held the hatch open as people descended one by one near the diner. "Quickly now," he urged, his voice calm despite the urgency. "The sun's almost down."
Entering the church, they rushed to the backroom and then to a closet. Miguel took the plank and slid it to the side, as a dark staircase appeared. "Let's go." He muttered, going in first with a lantern that he turned on. Following him was Elena, two other faces that he had seen around the town. Then Ariana, and finally him.
He kept the mace hooked to his belt and the backpack secure on his shoulders. By the time he reached the bottom, the familiar musty smell of earth and old stone enveloped him.
The bunker under the church was larger than the one by the diner, but not by much. Maybe fifteen people could fit if they didn't mind being shoulder to shoulder. A single lantern hung from a hook in the center, casting dancing shadows on the dirt walls.
Ariana and her family had claimed a spot near the back wall. Levi found himself settling a few feet away, close enough to see them in the dim light but maintaining a respectful distance. He set his backpack down carefully and kept the mace within easy reach.
He couldn't afford to get closer to Ariana. Couldn't afford to let whatever this was between them become something more.
They didn't have time for romance. They barely had time to survive.
Besides, what would he even offer her? He was just a carpenter/blacksmith with nightmares and a death wish. On top of that, someone who'd already gotten people killed by guiding the monster into the barn? She deserved better than that. She deserves-
"Levi."
He blinked, realizing Ariana had moved closer. She sat beside him now, her back against the wall, injured hand resting in her lap. In the low light, her face was half-shadow, but he could see the exhaustion etched into every line.
"You okay?" he asked quietly.
She laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Are any of us okay?"
Fair point. Almost immediately, the temperature seemed to drop. Or maybe that was just Levi's imagination as the screeches of the monsters echoed even in their little dark room.
People settled into their usual positions. The man from the gas station pressed himself against the far wall, eyes already glazed over with that thousand-yard stare. The greenhouse woman sat with her knees pulled to her chest, rocking slightly. Others Levi didn't know found their spots in silence, each lost in their own private terror.
This was their life now. Hiding in holes like rabbits while predators prowled above.
Minutes passed. The only sounds were breathing and the occasional shift of fabric. Tension ratcheted tighter with each passing moment, winding around them like wire.
SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
The screech tore through the night, muffled by dirt and wood but still clear enough to make everyone flinch. Levi's hand instinctively went to his mace, fingers wrapping around the familiar handle. The weight of it was reassuring, even though he knew it wouldn't help if those things found their way down here.
If they did, he'd try to burn as many of them as possible before they tore them apart. Ariana's breathing had gone shallow beside him. He could hear it even over his own thundering heartbeat.
"Hey," he whispered, barely audible. "You're okay."
She didn't respond. Her eyes were fixed on the ceiling, wide and unblinking. Her good hand gripped her knee so hard her knuckles had gone white.
More screeches echoed above. Footsteps on gravel. The distinct sound of something heavy being dragged across pavement. Everyone in the bunker had gone absolutely still, frozen like prey animals hoping the predator would pass them by.
Then Ariana gasped.
It was a sharp, desperate sound that cut through the silence like a knife. Her injured hand flew to her temple, pressing hard. Her whole body went rigid.
Elena reached for her immediately. "Ariana—"
"No!" Ariana jerked away from her mother's touch, scrambling backward still as if she wished the wall would take her in. Her eyes were wild, unfocused. "Don't- I can't- they're so loud-"
Miguel moved to help, but Ariana flinched away from him too. "Stay back," she gasped. "Please, just- stay back-"
Levi's heart lurched. Around them, the other survivors watched with hollow eyes—some with concern, some with barely-disguised fear, others with the blank indifference of people who'd seen too much to react anymore and were just waiting. Waiting for it all to end.
Levi didn't need anyone to tell him what this was. He could see it in the way Ariana's whole body trembled, in the desperate way she pressed her hands to her temples.
The voices.
He should stay back. Give her space. Let her parents handle it.
But his body moved before his brain could stop it. He crossed the small distance between them and dropped to his knees in front of her, his mace forgotten on the ground beside him.
"Ariana," he said softly. "Look at me."
She shook her head violently. "Can't- too loud- they won't stop-"
"I know." He kept his voice low, steady. "But you're not alone with them. I'm right here."
Slowly, carefully, he reached out and took her hands in his, pulling them gently away from her temples. She resisted at first, but he was persistent. When their palms met, he pressed firmly, grounding her.
"Just me," he murmured. "Focus on just me."
For a moment, nothing changed. Then, gradually, her breathing started to even out. The wild look in her eyes began to fade, replaced by exhaustion and something that looked like relief.
Without seeming to realize what she was doing, Ariana shifted closer. Her forehead came to rest against his shoulder, her body tucking itself against his side. One hand still held his; the other curled into his shirt like she was afraid he'd disappear.
Levi froze. His ribs ached from the position, his knees dug into the hard earth, and every instinct screamed at him to put distance between them. This was dangerous. This was exactly what he couldn't afford.
But he didn't move.
Behind them, Elena made a soft sound, distress or understanding, he couldn't tell. Miguel's hand was on his wife's arm, holding her back. Levi could feel their eyes on him, could feel the weight of every gaze in the bunker, but it didn't matter.
Because Ariana had stopped shaking. Her breathing had slowed. And somehow, impossibly, she seemed calmer.
"Better?" he asked quietly.
She nodded against his shoulder, not lifting her head. "They're... quieter now," she whispered. "Not gone, but... muffled."
Levi's jaw tightened. He didn't understand it—why his presence helped, why she seemed to anchor herself to him. But if it kept her from falling apart, he'd deal with his own discomfort.
The lantern flickered, casting their shadows long and strange against the wall. And in those shadows, at the very edge of the light, Levi saw something.
A woman, no, a young woman, looking intently at him. If she wasn't, Levi would have mistaken her for another survivor, a hider just like them. But she wasn't. She looked at him as if he had betrayed her, her eyes teary, a hand on her mouth to muffle whatever sound she would make.
But it was something unnatural, something that only he could see. Because no one even blinked at her.
Levi's breath caught in his throat. The woman stood perfectly still, her form solid enough to seem real but wrong in ways he couldn't quite articulate. The light didn't touch her the way it touched everything else—it passed through her, or maybe she existed just slightly out of sync with the world around her.
She was young, maybe early twenties, with dark hair that fell past her shoulders. Her clothes looked normal—jeans, a jacket—but there was something about the way she stood, the way she looked at him, that made his chest tighten with recognition he couldn't place.
He knew her.
But he didn't.
The contradiction made his head ache.
Her hand trembled as it pressed against her mouth, and tears streaked down her face. Not fear. Not horror. Something worse—betrayal. Like she'd caught him doing something unforgivable, something that had shattered her completely.
But what? What had he done?
Levi's arms tightened unconsciously around Ariana, and the woman's expression crumbled further. A sob—silent, visible only in the way her shoulders shook—wracked through her. She took a step back, then another, her eyes never leaving his.
"No," she mouthed. "No, no, no."
Then she was gone.
Not fading like the children had in his dreams. Not dissolving into mist. Just... gone. Like someone had flipped a switch and removed her from existence.
Levi stared at the empty space where she'd stood, his heart hammering so hard he could feel it in his temples.
Who was she?
"Levi?"
Ariana's voice pulled him back. She'd lifted her head slightly, looking up at him with exhausted eyes that held a flicker of concern. "Did you... did you see something?"
He wanted to say no. Wanted to brush it off as exhaustion or trauma or his mind playing tricks. But the lie wouldn't come. Because he felt that it was important. But more importantly, he didn't want to make it a habit now.
"Yeah," he said quietly. His voice sounded strange to his own ears, hollow, distant. "I saw someone."
"The children?" she whispered.
Levi shook his head slowly. "No. A woman. Young. She was..." He trailed off, struggling to find words. "She was looking at me like I'd hurt her. Like I'd done something terrible."
Ariana's good hand found his, squeezing gently. "Do you know who she was?"
"I don't know." The admission felt like a failure. "I feel like I should. Like I've seen her before, but I can't... I can't remember."
Around them, the bunker remained silent except for the muffled sounds from above. The other survivors had turned away, giving them what privacy they could in the cramped space. Or maybe they just didn't want to acknowledge what was happening, another person losing their grip on reality.
Miguel and Elena exchanged a glance, something unspoken passing between them. Elena's hand had found her husband's, gripping it tightly enough that her knuckles had gone white.
Above them, the screeches continued. The monsters prowled through the town, hunting, searching, doing whatever it was they did in the dark. But down here, in this hole in the ground, Levi held onto Ariana like she was the only solid thing in a world that had gone fluid and strange.
The woman's face lingered in his mind. Those tear-filled eyes. That expression of absolute devastation. But the memory, if it was even a memory in the first place, remained frustratingly out of reach. Like trying to remember a dream that slipped away the moment you woke up.
Hours passed. Or maybe just minutes. Time felt meaningless down here, measured only by the rise and fall of breath and the occasional sound from above. Ariana had gone still against him, her breathing evening out into something that might have been sleep. Levi didn't move, didn't dare disturb whatever fragile peace she'd found.
His ribs ached. His knees had gone numb. But he stayed exactly where he was.
Because somehow, in this nightmare town where nothing made sense and death waited just above their heads, this felt like the only thing that mattered.
The lantern flickered again, and in the dancing shadows, Levi thought he saw her once more. Just for a second- a flash of dark hair, the ghost of a face he couldn't quite place.
Then nothing.
But the feeling remained. The certainty that something important had just happened.
Somewhere in the dark, the monsters screamed.
And sometime in the future, a young woman wept for reasons he couldn't understand for now.
------
AN:
A very big chapter, at least compared to the previous ones. This one is about 3.8k words. So, make it 4k words. Main reason cause I might not upload tomorrow and the day after. But if I do, welp, you guys got a big chapter for nothing.
I want to let you guys know that I'm not stacking chapters. I write them and upload them. I finally have the idea on how I want to end this. And this is me laying the foundations. Within 3 years, in story's timeline, it'll end. So, calculate when it'll finish in seasons or in episode.
On another topic, I want to reach more readers, like the other 2 FROM fanfics in this site. The main reason is I want interaction in the chat, theories to form based on what I've written, just so they can give me ideas as such.
For that to happen, I think I need to edit the tags for some time. So, does anyone know the most "famous" tags so I can use and draw some readers?
Anyway, that's all from me, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.
Give me feedbacks/suggestions/your theories.